Green Printing - Paper Recycling And Certification

Audio version for this article: "Green Printing - Paper Recycling and Certification" (for people with visual disabilities or impairments).

Printing as an industry is a resource intensive user of paper products. The vast majority of substrates
(paper) that are used are made from timber products at this time. In the world of environmentally friendly
printing, a printing company can minimize their effects on the environment by using recycled papers. There
are different % of recycled paper and the industry is usually talking about post consumer waste. In the last couple of years the green printing process has developed and it is not truly defined as to what “officially green” constitutes. There are a number of organizations that are trying to tout the green and carbon neutral initiatives.

The most important step for us at The Odee Company started with the recycling of all our paper waste by a certified recycler. This means that all paper waste not used in the final product is recycled to be used again as pulp so that paper manufacturers reduce the amount of trees needed to fulfill paper demand. This certification allows you the customer to put the FSC or SFI logo on your printed piece to show you are environmentally friendly and sustaining the long term survival of our planet.

Recently, we have taken the very important step of becoming certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). FSC requires that a product made of pulp or paper must pass through a “chain of custody” from a FSC-certified forest to a FSC-certified paper manufacturer, merchant and printer. Thus the paper is tracked from the forest to final product and can be certified to be FSC certified. The system is designed to eliminate habitat destruction, water pollution, displacement of indigenous people and violence against people and wildlife in the practice of logging. SFI integrates reforestation, nurturing and harvesting of trees for useful products with the conservation of soil, air and water resources, wildlife and fish habitat.

While being an industry that uses paper and thus trees we can replace what we use by recycling and reforestation. If you are looking for a printing company that is FSC or SFI certified, The Odee Company has been in existence since 1923 and is located in Dallas, Texas. We have customers nationwide and some limited international clientele.
We are also a carbon neutral company by our support of Verus Carbon Neutral reforestation and are reducing our environmental footstep through lighting, recycling and use of renewable energy.